The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia will be transformed next week when the Games of Thrones Exhibition hits Sydney. With over 100 real artefacts, props and costumes (no replicas) the free exhibition will keep fans from gnashing their teeth as they await season five. The exhibition features a virtual experience that simulates life on top of the wall, where fans can catch a 360 degree panoramic view over Castle Black, as well as the opportunity to snap a selfie atop the Iron Throne. Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth on the most downloaded program in history, is in town to launch the show. On a sunny winter morning outside Three Williams cafe, we caught up with the Irish engineer-turned-actor to talk finger puppets, potatoes and patricide. So thanks for chatting to us after no doubt a long flight. It's wonderful. I've a mate here who I've been threatening to come and see forever and I just haven't had the opportunity and when this came up they didn't have to ask me twice. This exhibition has gone all over hasn't it? Toronto, Amsterdam, Belfast, London. It's a real treat. What's really cool about it now is that HBO aren't trying to make a quick buck out of it. It's free. It's a little thank you to the fans for, you know, making it as big as it is. But it needs to finish real soon, otherwise I'll be naked in the next show, which would be unheard of. All my costumes are in this exhibition. For the fans, it's just a real treat. There are some fans, aren't there? Nobody knew it was going to be such a phenomenon. It's just this really expansive backdrop to an incredible story of family and paranoia and jealousy and power and how power corrupts and how the powerful, generally speaking, are just taking care of themselves. Our first female PM loved the show. Yeah she's a fan, a big fan! And Barack Obama. He insisted on getting season four before the public got it. So power does corrupt. That's how you know you've got power. He's a big fan. Jack Nicholson is a fan. Martin Scorsese. Who else? It's extraordinary the amount of people who love this show. You see it at the exhibition. You've got the emos and the goths and those people coming along who are kind of hardcore but generally speaking it's kids from sixteen to one hundred and sixteen watching it. It's not a niche program at all because it's unpredictable. Right from when our leading man Ned Stark got chopped it was a game-changer, because it broke, especially for the States, where your leading man gets in trouble, overcomes, gets the girl and disappears, boring boring boring. People went, 'What? Hold on, we need to watch this thing properly, because this is just messing with our heads.' If Davos suddenly turned around and told Stannis to shove it I don't think we'd see that coming. It's not in his nature. He's the kind of guy, if you were in trouble you'd want him in your corner. His loyalty and decency is unquestionable. Listen, he's treated well apart from having his hand chopped off. Is it a glove you use? Sometimes it's a glove. Sometimes it's little green puppets on my fingers that then get digitally removed. Pop quiz: If Davos was going to be killed off would you prefer his head was chopped off, his skull was popped or torture? Torture's always good 'cause you have the audience on your side. You're sort of a veteran but you started late as an actor. You worked as an engineer, lived in Africa and got married all before taking up the game. Your career before GoT is pretty accomplished but has your life changed in a big way since – I've been outed. I feel like I've been gay and kept it quiet and now people know. But you're coping. But I'm in front of the pride march with a stick. There is a bit of that. Listen, people's memories are really short. What's good about it is I have to wear this [gestures to beard], my pubic balaclava, when filming and when I finish filming off it comes and nobody knows who I am. Luckily I started late enough not to be impressed by myself. But you're Ireland's pin-up boy… There's a very healthy begrudgery in Ireland. No one gives a fuck who I am. You're not allowed to get on any sort of pedestal. It's kind of healthy. My ego's enormous anyway. I don't need it massaged. I can do that myself. You've brought your youngest along. Are you the coolest dad ever? Of course. Isn't that obvious. No, yeah, he's my travelling companion. He keeps me out of trouble. He keeps me out of the pip. I think he had a book. I'm impressed. A kid with a book. Yeah, but it's a book about guns. I'm raising a small serial killer. At the moment he's choosing which weapon to end my life with. He's probably looking at me through the window and saying I'm gonna pop a cap in your arse, Dad. No, he's cool. He's a sixty-year-old man trapped in a thirteen-year-old body. He's the kind of dude I got to for advice. He's an extraordinary little fella, my boy. In my last 35 seconds I have to ask, for my editor, reflections on The Little Princess? She's a fan! Quite a few tweets come through — OMFG Davos Seaworth is the dad from The Little Princess. The Little Princess was nineteen years ago so a lot of those eight-year-old girls are now watching me as Davos. And now they're hugely attractive, gorgeous-looking women, and I'm close to death at this stage, but at least I've kept these ladies very happy when they were kids and I'm keeping them happy when they're grown-ups. I love my job. There's not many movies for daddies and little girls. Can you think of any other ones for fathers and daughters? Oh man, the The Shiralee. It's this Australian one … It's got Bryan Brown in it. I used to look like Bryan Brown. Just quickly, I'm working on a story and I want to list all the things you can do with potatoes. Because you're Irish, and I don't mean to be racist, but I was wondering if you could add anything to my list. So far I've got mashed potato, fried potato, boiled potatoes, potato bake, potato soup... Mashed potato sandwiches. Keith Lemon's favourite dish. If you had to give up onions or potatoes? Well this is not an option. No. I cook. You have to give up one. Shit. Onions or potatoes? Onions are so incredibly important but listen, we'd die without potatoes. Now you're going to remember The Shiralee or will you forget? It's S-h-i-r-a – [A lady walks past and tells us to shut up our very female-specific body parts several times before moving on.] ...Welcome to Australia! That's fantastic. I wonder if she arranges flowers for a living. When do you head home? I leave Tuesday. We're going to open the exhibition. I couldn't wait to get down here. Does Australia really feel as far away as everybody – It's the moon. It's the moon. Next stop, the Sea of Tranquillity. Game of Thrones: Season 4 is now available on Google Play. The Game of Thrones Exhibition is at the MCA from July 1-5.
Every film is a portrait of ups and downs, no matter the genre. Without change and complications, plus either a sprinkling or a shower of chaos, there's little in the way of story for a movie to tell. In just three features, each hitting cinemas Down Under in successive years since 2022, Macedonian Australian filmmaker Goran Stolevski has demonstrated how deeply he understands this fact — and also that life itself is, of course, the same rollercoaster ride. So, when Housekeeping for Beginners starts by jumping between a joyous sing-along and a grim doctor's visit, he lays that juxtaposition between existence's highs and the lows bare in his third picture's frames. He has form: You Won't Be Alone, his folkloric horror film set in 19th-century Macedonia, segued early from new life to a witch's fate-shaping demands; Of an Age, a queer love story that unfurls in Melbourne, kicked off by flitting between dancing and a desperate against-the-clock rush. In You Won't Be Alone, the shapeshifting Wolf-Eateress who chose an infant to be her protege was played by Anamaria Marinca, the Romanian actor who has proven an unforgettable screen presence ever since the one-two punch of 2004's TV two-parter Sex Traffic — which won her a Best Actress BAFTA — and 2007's Cannes Palme d'Or-winning film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Stolevski reenlists her assistance for Housekeeping for Beginners, and also illustrates his awareness of another immutable fact: that the eyes of Anamaria Marinca relay tales all by themselves. Here, they're weary but sharp and determined. They're devoted yet fierce, too. They possess the unrelenting gaze of someone who won't stop fighting for those she loves no matter what it takes, and regardless of how she initially reacts, a path that her social-worker character Dita is no stranger to traversing. That aforementioned crooning comes courtesy of precocious five-year-old Mia (newcomer Džada Selim), her rebellious teenage sister Vanesa (fellow debutant Mia Mustafa) and the charming Ali (Samson Selim, another first-timer), the young man who newly shares their Skopje abode. Everyone, including Vanesa and Mia's mother Suada (Alina Șerban, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn), dwells under Marinca's Dita's roof — with the latter not just cohabitating with her girlfriend and her kids, but turning the house that she inherited into a refuge for those that North Macedonian society frowns upon. Ali is the latest lover of Dita's longterm gay roommate and friend Toni (Vladimir Tintor, Kumovi), hanging around after an app hookup. Young lesbians Elena (Sara Klimoska, Tin Kamp), Flora (Rozafë Celaj, Sophia) and Teuta (Ajshe Useini, yet another newcomer) also call the spot home. Being queer isn't a criminal offence in Housekeeping for Beginners' setting, but both same-sex marriage and adopting children by LGBTQIA+ couples are illegal. In the country's class system, being anything but Macedonian is also hardly greeted with warmth; Dita is Albanian, while Suada, her children and Ali are Romani. This motley crew is navigating each and every day the best that they can together; however, their safe space has grief in its future. It's Suada and Dita who attend the medical appointment at the movie's start, with Suada diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer. Her one wish: that Dita adopt her girls, and also get married to and play happy families with Toni, who is Macedonian, so that Mia and Vanesa will be free of the stigma that Suada has always had to weather as a Roma woman. Stolevski is a plunge-in director — and screenwriter and editor, again taking on all three roles on Housekeeping for Beginners as he did on Of an Age. He dives into lives already in action and motion, crafting films that feel like they're dropping in. Ups and downs have preceded the events that his movies spin into their plots, then, and more will follow after his flicks tap out. Accordingly, he isn't one to spoon-feed specifics and context. The dynamics between his characters in Housekeeping for Beginners are revealed to audiences naturally, as are the setbacks and discrimination they encounter, often as viewers spend time in Dita's always-noisy, always-bustling home. While this isn't a one-location picture — Šutka, the Skopje municipality that's the world's only local administrative area with Balkan Romani as its official language, also features heavily — it is a film where observing its key figures in surroundings both comforting and challenging conveys as much as dialogue. Putting Marinca at the fore, a mix of grace and intensity beaming from her performance as Dita, was always going to rank among Stolevski's best choices in a feature filmmaking career that's already filled with stellar casting (see: Constellation's Noomi Rapace, Bad Behaviour's Alice Englert and Elite's Carloto Cotta in You Won't Be Alone; and also Swift Street's Elias Anton, Eden's Thom Green and Savage River's Hattie Hook in Of an Age). He's also a detail-driven director, making emotions and complexities plain in decisions as simple as the arrangement of people at a wedding and where the camera peers (or doesn't) when someone is speaking. And, again and again, he guides portrayals to match. From Șerban, he gets blistering power, with Suada explosive from the moment that she questions whether her medical treatment is being shaped by her ethnicity. Džada Selim, Samson Selim and Mustafa are all discoveries, too, breathing realism and vitality into the movie's youngest hearts and minds. Roving and intimate cinematography from Naum Doksevski (Sestri) also ensures that watching Housekeeping for Beginners feels akin to stepping inside it — and pondering the same questions that Dita, Suada, Toni, Ali and company each are. As the film that was selected as North Macedonia's Oscar contender in 2024's Best International Feature category (The Zone of Interest won) rides just a sliver of the ups and downs that its characters will face in their days, albeit significant ones, it gets them examining what comprises a family. There might be no such thing as a smooth-sailing journey from birth to death, or a surefire way to avoid heartbreak and loss, for anyone. There certainly isn't within Housekeeping for Beginners, which can also skew darkly comic when it comes to the bureaucratic hoops that require jumping through. But as Stolevski charts in his third movie about yearning for a place to belong, it's the people that you share those travails with day in and day out that makes a household.
It's been a rocky few years for Jamie's Italian in Australia, having relaunched with full ownership in 2017 only to lose ownership again just one year later. Luckily, the Brisbane-based Hallmark Group took over the management of the Australian restaurants, but not without some casualties — the Canberra and Parramatta outposts (the latter of which is set to become a steakhouse) quickly closed. But now, perhaps in an attempt to help us put our faith back in the brand, Jamie's Italian venues across Australia will launch a series of bottomless prosecco lunches for a very reasonable $50 per person. The one-month deal will run every Saturday from September 8 through to October 7 — and it includes a lot more than just an endless supply of sparkling wine. Each table will be served small bites to share (including those crispy polenta chips), and everyone will get a big bowl of pasta. You'll be be able to choose which one you want, too — think classics like prawn linguine and carbonara, and signatures including the truffle tagliatelle and fresh crab spaghetti. Plus, it'll all be topped off with panna cotta for dessert. If we know anything, it's that people really love Jamie's Italian. As such, these lunches are sure book out fast, so front a pineapple and book it already. The bottomless prosecco lunches will be available at Jamie's Italian Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. They'll run each Saturday from from 12–4pm from September 8 until October 7. You can book here.
Live music and big festivals might be back after a pandemic-enforced hiatus, and in a huge way, but that doesn't mean that the days of cancellations are over. After already hosting fests in Newcastle and Brisbane earlier this year, This That has scrapped its plans to return for a second round of 2022 events in spring. The festival announced its October and November lineup back in June, with Earl Sweatshirt and Flight Facilities leading the bill — and What So Not joining them in Brissie only, The Presets in NSW, plus Vera Blue, Winston Surfshirt, DMA's, Chillinit, Skeggs, Hockey Dad, Jesswar and more on the full roster across both locations. But now none of the above will take to the stage, with This That focusing on coming back in October and November 2023 instead. As posted to the event's website and social media channels, organisers said that "it's with huge disappointment that we must announce This That's October and November 2022 festivals won't be going ahead at Sandstone Point (QLD) and Newcastle (NSW)". "This is due to a combination of issues, including the current level of market saturation resulting in supply chain issues and labour shortages, difficult economic conditions including ballooning insurance premiums and infrastructure costs, and the forecast of ongoing extreme weather patterns — so many factors that have the potential to lessen the experience we want to always deliver," the statement continued. "We were really looking forward to backing up our two huge events from earlier this year where it was so great to party with everyone back in February and March. For now, the team feels the smartest thing is to take a rest and be fresh and ready for This That again in November 2023." View this post on Instagram A post shared by THIS THAT (@thisxxthat) This That was scheduled to return to the Sandstone Point Hotel in Queensland on Saturday, October 29, then make its way to Newcastle on Saturday, November 5. Instead, you can lock new 2023 dates in your diary: Saturday, October 28 in the Sunshine State and Saturday, November 4 in NSW. There's no word yet who'll lead the bill next year, obviously, but watch this space. And if you had tickets for this spring's now-shuttered events, you'll be hearing from Oztix, and will receive your refund automatically within seven to 15 business days. THIS THAT OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 2023 DATES: Saturday, October 28: Sandstone Point Hotel, Sandstone Point, Queensland Saturday, November 4: Newcastle, New South Wales This That will no longer take place in October and November 2022, and will instead return to Sandstone Point and Newcastle at the same time in 2023. Tickets for the 2022 events will be refunded automatically — for more information, head to the festival's website. Images: Mitch Lowe / Jordan Munns.
Unless you've by some miracle stumbled upon the ultimate sharehouse situation, there inevitably comes a point when the whole thing starts to get pretty old — and yet owning your own piece of real estate feels like it just ain't ever going to happen. If that's the case, how would you feel about testing out co-living? The concept is Sydney's newest real estate offering and — at present — features blocks of studio-style units rented out individually by the one landlord or property group. Typically, they've got communal areas and include services like cleaning and laundry in the rent. So you're living under the same roof as others, with all the social benefits, but with your own private space and no chance of anyone else stealing the last of your choccy milk from the fridge. While it has proved popular overseas, Australia is just now making its first foray into the co-living space, with Alex Thorpe and Rhys Williams — the same guys behind hotel group Veriu and co-working space +U — among the first to embrace the concept locally. They're gearing up to launch their own co-living brand UKO in Stanmore this September. UKOs in Paddington and Newtown are expected to follow, too. The pair's aim is to shake up the rental market by offering more bang for your rental buck. Here, the networking and social aspects are the biggest drawcards, so you'll find a big communal courtyard, complete with veggie patch and a relaxation zone, which doubles as an outdoor cinema by night. Each UKO facility will also have its own dedicated 'community host', charged with planning and running events, setting up any communal meals and facilitating networking. The Stanmore set-up features three different room styles, starting at a not-so-cheap $525 per week for the adaptable, studio-style UKO Flex, and reaching $595 per week for the UKO Loft. They're not exactly roomy, so to maximise space, the units are kitted out with a suite of flexible features, that can fold or roll away when you're not using them. And it seems UKO won't be your only co-living option, with Commercial Real Estate reporting that local investment group Caper Property also has plans to jump into the market. The website has revealed that the company will be launching three co-living properties in Sydney over the next 12 months — including one in Leichhardt's Bald Faced Stag. Caper Property acquired the 1800s inner west pub back in April, and has plans to develop it into a restaurant, bar, cinema and live music venue, as well as a "120-bed" co-living space. These new co-living spaces are promising a lot for something that sounds an awful lot like renting a tiny studio — or living in a fancy uni dorm — for pretty much the same price, so we'll be keeping an eye on how successfully they run post-launch. But as Sydney's rental market — and its property market in general— is currently a big expensive mess, more options certainly aren't a bad thing. UKO Stanmore is slated to open this September.
Whether you've got a birthday to ring in or just want an inviting space to feast with friends, Cho Cho San's Buns and Bottomless Bubbles lunch is now held every Saturday and Sunday. Bringing the fun of Japanese izakaya culture to Potts Point, you probably shouldn't expect the most authentic experience. Yet that doesn't mean the banquet menu doesn't feature highlights from top to bottom. Spanning share plates and fluffy bao served with crispy chicken katsu and an assortment of condiments like pickled ginger, chilli and cucumber, each booking is rounded out by a delightfully chewy mochi. This being a bottomless session, guests can also expect house sparkling, wines and beers in abundance, while you're invited to add a seasonal cocktail package for $35pp. Keen? You'll choose from a strawberry rhubarb spritz, Tokyo tommy margarita and honeydew highball. From kickstarting a party to keeping the festivities going, getting down for Buns and Bottomless Bubbles is bound to impress. Plus, if it's your birthday, bring a group of eight or more pals to receive a complimentary offering. Lunch is $95pp and runs every Saturday and Sunday from 12–3pm.
Forget Emily in Paris — the best Netflix series set in the French capital focuses on a light-fingered smooth mover who is as adept at stealing hearts as he is at pilfering jewels and art. The streaming service's Lupin isn't the first screen outing based on the Maurice Leblanc-penned master of disguise, with the author's famous character first popping up on the big screen over a century ago, then appearing in both movies and TV not just in his homeland but also in the US and Japan since. Centred on a gentleman thief who takes his cues from the fictional figure, however, Netflix's take on all things Arsène Lupin is equally creative, riveting, twisty and entertaining. With the charismatic Omar Sy (Jurassic World Dominion) as its lead, it also couldn't be better cast. Viewers initially discovered this Lupin's delights in January 2021, when Sy's Arsène superfan Assane Diop started showing off his larceny skills in the series' instantly engaging five-episode first part. The angle proved savvy. The central casting is sparkling. Creators George Kay (who has since made the Idris Elba-led Hijack) and François Uzan (Family Business) perfected the rollicking vibe, while director Louis Leterrier (Fast X) turned in some of his best work helming the debut three instalments. It's no wonder that the show became the most-watched series in a language other than English on Netflix at the pre-Squid Game time. A second five-chapter part arrived in June the same year, but audiences have had to wait until now for a third. Streaming its seven new entries from Thursday, October 5, Lupin's third part dazzles again. Crime capers don't much more charming — and bingeable — than this page-to-screen heist affair. Leblanc introduced the world to Lupin in short stories in 1905, with 17 novels and 39 novellas following. In some, Herlock Sholmes pops up — and yes, the reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's detective is clearly on purpose. Although Sherlock Holmes isn't quite Arsène Lupin's English equivalent, the two characters give readers and viewers alike the same thrills. If spending time with smart figures with silky skills in can't-put-down and can't-look-away mysteries is what you're after, both deliver. Netflix's Lupin gives the French favourite a modern-day Sherlock-esque spin, but with another pivot to put the suave Senegal-born Diop and his various quests in the spotlight. When Diop first sashayed across streaming queues, he was on a mission to avenge the incarceration and death of his father Babakar (Fargass Assandé, Represent), who was imprisoned back when Assane was a kid for stealing a diamond necklace once owned by Marie Antoinette. Lupin's striking debut heist involved burgling the jewellery again — and from the Louvre no less — as Diop kept trying to establish his dad's innocence. In season two as well, Babakar's wealthy former boss Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre, Benedetta), who owned the necklace it was initially taken, is chief among Diop's targets. Just like everything from Squid Game to Succession, there's an eat-the-rich angle to Lupin; perhaps more than Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood comes to mind. Season three tasks the ever-resourceful Diop with coping with becoming headline fodder for his efforts with Pellegrini. He's long been in hiding since, which is having an impact upon his childhood sweetheart-turned-estranged wife Claire (Ludivine Sagnier, The Serpent Queen) and their teenage son Raoul (Etan Simon, Jeune et golri). Cue a new big scheme — with trusty assistance from his gadget-making best friend Benjamin Feel (Antoine Gouy, Gold Brick), another mainstay from his school days — to abscond with a priceless black pearl, fund a new life and start afresh with his family. But it isn't just police detectives Youssef Guédira (Soufiane Guerrab, Visions) and Sofia Belkacem (Shirine Boutella, Christmas Flow), one a massive Lupin aficionado himself and the other slowly being convinced of the books' relevance, who boast a keen interest in anything that possibly involves Assane. Flashbacks to the 90s, to Diop (Mamadou Haidara, La vie de ma mère) and Claire (Ludmilla Makowski, Bardot) as high schoolers, remain in Lupin's return, with the series as concerned as ever with cause, effect and actions having consequences. Kay and his writing team not only adore layering in references to their source material as heftily as their protagonist, who bases his exploits around his inspiration, but piling in multiple mysteries. This is a show to sleuth along with, including puzzling through the same whodunnits that catch Assane's attention and pondering any heist series' main question: how'd they do it? Lupin always eventually explains the steps behind Diop's trickery, whether he's donning a luxe purple suit and ageing himself up to blend in by standing out or rushing through Paris' catacombs — and the reveals never disappoint. As tautly scripted and stylishly shot as Lupin is, and as enjoyably OTT as many of its robberies prove, there's no doubting that this wouldn't be the gem it is without the perfectly cast Sy. While it was his César Best Actor Award-winning role in 2011's The Intouchables that first brought him to worldwide fame, leading to parts in X-Men: Days of Future Past and Jurassic World, it's Lupin that has cemented the Micmacs, Mood Indigo, Monsieur Chocolat and Night Shift actor as a global star. Enlisting him as Diop is a Daniel Craig-in-Bond, Tom Cruise-in-Mission: Impossible stroke of genius — and he's just as debonair, and adept at donning disguises. There are plenty of reasons that Assane has become a hero to the French masses in Lupin's latest go-around, but Sy's magnetic performance couldn't be more essential for at-home audiences. Also pivotal: that Lupin isn't merely sleek action fodder with an excellent lead, plus gripping ups and downs. Emotional stakes have always been crucial to the show, as has unpacking traumas both now and across generations, the chasm between the one percent and everyone else, and interrogating racial divides as well as class clashes. It works as a Parisian travelogue, too, upping the thrills by getting Diop sneaking around — and often flatout waltzing into — well-known sights. John Wick: Chapter 4 isn't the only 2023 must-see to make excellent use of the Arc de Triomphe, for instance. In Lupin part three, the Place Vendôme, Père Lachaise Cemetery and Château de Thoiry also feature prominently. Lupin tours already exist, of course, but now they have a few more stops. Check out the trailer for Lupin part three below: Lupin part three streams via Netflix from Thursday, October 5.
You've forsaken smashed avocados, saved all your cash and somehow have enough money to purchase your own property — and, naturally, you want to make the transaction count. May we suggest a 16th-century British cottage that's been dubbed the most haunted house in the UK? Anyone can buy an apartment in the suburbs, but only one person can nab a notorious spot that was once a medieval witch prison. Located in St Osyth in Essex, the property in question is known as The Cage. Back in the late 1500s, it was used to house 13 women accused of witchcraft while they were awaiting trial. Three were ultimately sentenced to death by hanging, including the infamous Ursula Kemp — a midwife and healer who came under suspicion after people in her neighbourhood, including children, became sick and died. That's not the end of The Cage's unnerving story. In the years until 1908, the house was also used to detain men, women, and children. Unsurprisingly, the spot has featured on local ghost tours and as the subject of a television docudrama, with current owner Vanessa Mitchell even co-writing a book about her spooky experiences living in the property. [caption id="attachment_726177" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Right Move[/caption] Mitchell's time onsite was short-lived — she moved out "because of the relentless paranormal activity" according to Home Domus, who've listed the house for sale — however she has owned the spot since 2004. If you're keen to follow in her footsteps and you have £240,000 or more to spare, the two-level house features three reception rooms, a kitchen, a ground floor cloakroom, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Outside, a walled courtyard comes complete with a door to a walkway known as "Coffin Alley", where dead bodies were once transported on the way to the local cemetery. Top image: Home Domus 360.
Pairing movies with music is no longer new news, but the latest returning event that's serving up that combo is hoping for two things. Firstly, it's betting on a whole lot of love for Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey dancing up a storm in a classic 1987 romantic drama. Secondly, when it comes to getting excited about seeing that now 36-year-old flick on a big screen with its soundtrack performed live, it's hoping that you've never felt like this before (or, not since 2022's shows). Obviously, Dirty Dancing in Concert wants to give you the time of your life as well — and to not only let you celebrate one of Swayze's biggest and most charming film roles, but to immerse you in the movie from the moment you take your seat. No one will be carrying watermelons or checking into Kellerman's Mountain House in the Catskills, but the digitally remastered feature will grace the big screen, and a live band and singers will perform its iconic songs as it plays. Just as swoon-worthy: the fact that those musicians will stick around afterwards to headline a party that'll naturally have you singing and dancing. If you're feeling adventurous and inspired by the movie, you might even want to try to recreate the famous lift. Here, nobody will put you or Francis 'Baby' Houseman in a corner — and you'd be just a fool to believe otherwise. Your hungry eyes will soak in Baby's first taste of dirty dancing, her eager rehearsals and her growing infatuation with Johnny Castle, as well as her parents' bitter unhappiness about the entire situation. This blast-from-the-past affair is touring Australia and New Zealand across September and October, with dates locked in for Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, the Gold Coast, Auckland and Christchurch. And yes, because Dirty Dancing in Concert is certain to be popular, it's bringing its 80s-themed fun to sizeable venues, so you'll be having the time of your Dirty Dancing-loving life with plenty of people. DIRTY DANCING IN CONCERT 2023 AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR: Friday, September 1 — Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne Saturday, September 2 — Darling Harbour Theatre, ICC Sydney Friday, September 22 — Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Saturday, September 23 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena, Adelaide Sunday, September 24 — Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth Thursday, September 28 — The Star Gold Coast, Gold Coast Saturday, September 30 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Sunday, October 1 — Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch Dirty Dancing in Concert will tour Australia and NZ in September and October 2023 — head to the show's website for tickets and further details.
The northern beaches aren't famous for their burgeoning art scene. Not yet, anyway. Enter Fifty-One: it's a monthly event founded with the purpose of uniting creatives on the northern beaches and developing the art scene. Promising pizza, beer, music, local art, and plenty of people with whom you can hold an interesting discussion, there are huge things that can be expected of Fifty-One. This month's Fifty-One is going with a Hillbilly Barn Dance theme. Hosted by the Pony Room with cocktails in jam jars, live-painted skateboards and hillbilly rock on a five string banjo, the setting is perfect for a showcase of the work of local underground artists such as Jonathan Olson, Matt Dampney, Nick Bazarow, and Liz Keene. So, come check out the creative side of the Insular Peninsula.
There's endless potential for a quick and relatively healthy lunch when you're hankering for a sanga. This simple lunch staple has the ability to stoke the flames of nostalgia almost instantly. Whether it's a white bread sandwich that takes you straight back to the schoolyard quadrangle, or a swish and fun grown-up take on the global lunchbox favourite; they are fun, easy and damn delicious. We popped into Sydney's top cafes to seek out delicious things between bread (with extra points for those that champion the humble egg) so you can level up your lunch game with an excellent sambo that's also good for you. In fact, there are 11 different vitamins and nutrients packed into only 300 kilojoules in every egg. Australian Eggs recommends opting for whole eggs to get the most out of this little package of goodness. Read on for our picks of where to find tasty lunch options that are better for you than you might think.
After past successful runs in Melbourne and Brisbane, the stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense film North By Northwest is coming to Sydney this March and early April. Originally mounted by Melbourne Theatre Company and also staged in Toronto and the UK, this theatre version the famous movie comes from director Simon Phillips and writer Carolyn Burns from MTC, and looks to be as visually stunning as the original. For those who need a recap, protagonist Roger O Thornhill is a savvy advertising exec who is kidnapped by gangsters who believe he's a man called George Kaplan. When Thornhill denies such allegations, the thugs relentlessly chase him across the country — and he meets a beautiful and mysterious blonde along the way. Starring David Campbell and Amber McMahon in the roles immortalised by Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, the stage version of North By Northwest will deliver all of the thrills and spills of the classic film, with heightened suspense played out in live theatre. Yes, in true Hitchcock style, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat. North By Northwest hits the stage at Sydney Lyric Theatre from Wednesday, March 9–Sunday, April 3. Images: Darren Thomas.
I've sung in lots of choirs in my time. The Australian Youth Choir, for example (is it just me, or was that just so incredibly nineties?) My high school choir, the NSW School's Spectacular combined choir, the Newtown Community Choir, to name a few more. Sure, singing in choirs is one of the many nerdy things I have done in my life so far. But there's nothing quite like the buzz you get from uniting together with other singers as one voice. It gets me through my one obligatory visit to church at Christmas time: I'm a carol-singing tragic. Composer Eric Whitacre believes singing in unison to be a fundamental part of human experience. His Virtual Choir project uses technology to bring people together from around the globe to sing his compositions. The first experiment in 2010 saw 185 singers from 12 countries posting videos of themselves to YouTube singing one of the 4-part harmonies from Whitacre's piece Lux Arumque. Whitacre had previously uploaded a video of himself conducting the piece in silence which participants could watch as they sang their parts. The next installment of the project is a performance of Whitacre's Sleep, and is set to be unveiled on April 7 2011. The choir has increased 100 fold, with over 2000 voices from 58 different countries now taking part. Part of the beauty of it all is the prospect of so many individuals alone at their computer screens, who are nevertheless together as part of a bigger picture, sound and purpose. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zyLX2cke-Lw https://youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs [Via TedEX]
You may remember a little thing called the Global Financial Crisis. It happened a couple of years ago, resulted in $900 extra dollars in the piggybank thanks to Uncle Kev, a nation-wide spending spree and cheaper plane fares. Crisis? Bring it on! You might not be so casual about a Great Depression, however. After the 1929 New York stock market crash, Australia was plunged into the kind of poverty that would make Charles Dickens choke on his gruel. 'Skint! Making do in the Great Depression', at the Museum of Sydney, is a collection of artefacts, testimonials, photos and sound grabs from that time, the depths of which found one-third of all men unemployed and families forced onto the ‘susso’ (sustenance relief), into humpytowns or even the caves along the coast beneath Bondi. ‘Making do’ was an absolute necessity — whether that meant petty crime (being a “shonk to survive”, says one lady in a video excerpt) or simply stretching old socks into rugs, gasoline drums into kitchen cabinets, packing crates into natty chaises. It’s the kind of mentality that was totally absent from the GFC, partially due to the pervading economic theories of each time, one favouring deflationary over inflationary tactics. Whatever the cause, the Great Depression was a time in which our resilience and imagination came to the fore. While some of the propaganda posters of that time promised “gloom to-day, joy to-morrow”, that was not to be, and the effects of the Depression lingered until World War II. A certain Australian je ne sais quoi grew from the difficulty, however: a ‘making do’, and doing it bloody well.
Two of Gaffa's galleries are taken up at the moment by a single group show, Somewhere They Can't Find Me. In Dream Horse, Isabel Watt depicts a unicorn with felty pink hair, charcoal shadows, a sad eye and a pillowy texture. Her other drawings show unicorns stepping onto planes, a plane caught in deer antlers and stand offs with hummingbird or jellyfish. Her paintings are surreal, but with a vibe that's far more exploratory than dream-like. A series of tiny Japanese inspired red and pink squares nearby lay out her picaresques of snow monkeys, happy ramen and understated moments on the street. The highlight of Nana Sakata's showings are her fabulous ink drawings. Meticulously plotted in tiny dots, they paint out dappled scenes of shadow puppets - larking rabbits, happy shades and vomiting deer. Later, she introduces her ink silhouettes to luscious blue cumulus, voluptuous green paint and an endless blue sea of cloud. Her creatures live an active life of childlike imagination, with eyes owning an aura of revelation. Seemingly free of danger, their existence seems nonetheless arduous. Anna Stenekes' paintings, meanwhile, sketch birds, cats and dogs on a large scale. Two 'chocolate boxes' take her abstraction to a strong, clean and shaded aesthetic. Zombie Mash Up is more mashup than zombie. Kathryn Cowen's Zombie Mamma and the Night Bandit have the aura of a zombie flick underlaid by fifties science, her paintings a luminescent twenties pallet. Emma Cummings' TV India plots out Bollywood chic with bold shadows rippling on the surface and in Natalya Shinn's Kinder Mash Up plastic animals with the texture of boiled sweets sit in matchboxes, peeking out at classical statuary death match opponents. Each pair of nemeses have the same colour, and on paper, the feuding pairs are painted in clashing colours as statues, like the Winged Victory of Samothrace, stand off against casual fauna. The animals are completely non-plussed, scoring victory by disinterest. Images by Nana Sakata and Emma Cummings.
'Based on real events'. It's been an incredibly popular theme of late, with an almost unceasing run of biopics and historical dramas coming our way every year for the past decade or so. Those four simple words imbue a movie with an immediate sheen of credibility, commanding the audience's attention and respect in equal measure. The thing is, it's also particularly sneaky. 'Based on real events' doesn't mean 'happened'. Instead, it provides filmmakers with a sizeable caveat upon which almost almost any fact can be supplanted by something far more exciting, or more moving or…whatever the movie needs, really. Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson's first directorial offering in over a decade, stands apart on this front for two distinct reasons. Firstly, it opts for the far more concrete 'A True Story' at its opening. Secondly, it takes the almost unprecedented step of underselling the feats of its protagonist, American war hero Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield). In real life, as in the film, the famous WWII conscientious objector refused to carry a weapon because of his religious beliefs as a Seventh Day Adventist, yet still earned himself the Congressional Medal of Honour when he single-handedly carried 75 wounded men on his back during the battle for Hacksaw Ridge, lowering them one-by-one down a cliff face to safety while under constant fire from the enemy. Doss' real world battlefield valour, however, extended far beyond this feat, with his citation referencing numerous other instances of extraordinary heroism that fail to even rate a mention in the film. Perhaps it was cut for time, or perhaps Gibson and his team concluded that Doss' actions were already so unbelievable, to detail all of them would challenge even the most faithful historian. Either way, it's refreshing to see an already humble hero presented without the need to over-emphasise, over-sell and over-indulge. Filmed in Australia with a predominantly local supporting cast, Hacksaw Ridge offers a surprisingly conventional first half for a director of Gibson's talent. The flashbacks to Doss' childhood and his troubled parents (Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving), the romance with his sweetheart (Teresa Palmer) and his initiation into the military (under the supervision of Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington) all play dangerously close to melodrama, saved only by the quality of the actors' performances. The sole purpose of this first phase is to establish with none too subtle a touch Doss' fervent religious conviction, cataloguing each and every instance of persecution, bullying and even the court martial that threatened to see him imprisoned for the duration of the war. But Gibson has made a career out of terrifyingly visceral combat scenes (see also: Braveheart and Apocalypto), and from the moment the first bullet tears through the air and into the flesh of the soldier it finds, Hacksaw Ridge sheds its corniness and transforms into a brutal, confronting and violent recreation of one of WWII's bloodiest battles. Neither as involved as Saving Private Ryan, nor as haunting as The Thin Red Line, Hacksaw Ridge nonetheless delivers a truly frenetic sense of warfare, at times seeming closer to the clashing armies of the middle ages than the modern combat of the last century. The film is unashamedly unilateral in purpose, and the closing shot of Doss essentially ascending to Heaven is rather on the nose. Still, as a tribute to a genuinely extraordinary man and a return to form by Gibson, both are as welcome as they are overdue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-1hz1juBI
It's not every day you get to try a world-famous dish without leaving the country. But that's exactly what Sydneysiders are in for when Joe Beddia brings a taste of his renowned Philadelphia pizzeria to Bondi later this month. Hailed by Bon Appétit as the best pizza in America, Pizzeria Beddia's pies have a seriously good rep, and you don't want to miss their week-long appearance at Bondi Beach Public Bar, running from July 22 to 28. The pop-up will open at 6pm and sling pizzas until sold out. Beddia's original two-employee-only shopfront in Fishtown, Philadelphia, shut its doors in March to make way for a larger operation launching later this year. Sad news for locals, maybe, but as it turns out, a big win for the pizza lovers of Sydney. Having made every single pizza ever served at his cult favourite restaurant, Joe Beddia is now out to win over a new legion of Aussie fans, from a 60-seat Bondi pop-up pizzeria crafted entirely from pizza boxes. He'll be slinging a range of his signature, non-traditional pizzas starring local ingredients and matched with a cracking wine list curated by BBPB sommelier James Hird.
Yass, a small NSW town near Canberra received the signature Queer Eye makeover when the Fab Five descended on the town earlier in June. Well, the whole town didn't, but George — a cattle farmer and former rodeo cowboy — did. As did the local pub. A rundown of the show, for the uninitiated, the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy show hit screens a whopping 15 years ago — running from 2003 to 2007 — and the reboot Queer Eye returned to Netflix this year. The general premise is that the Fab Five give less-fashion-savvy men (and it seems, establishments) much-needed makeovers. In Yass, while three of the Fab Five, Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France and Karamo Brown, were looking after George the cattle farmer, the remaining two — Antoni Porowsi and Bobby Berk — renovated the local pub's bistro and introduced a new signature dish to the menu. Fittingly, the five were also crowned — by Yass Mayor Rowena Abbey — Yass Queens. Yas, queen. If this reference is lost on you, it's a term said to have originated in the 80s ballroom community, but recently surged to popularity thanks to this YouTube video. The Australian mini-episode of Queer Eye will is now available to watch, with Queer Eye's second season also streaming on Netflix since June 15. Check out Yass, Australia! below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM2zD5FtrkQ&feature=youtu.be
If you've been looking for a reason to finally book that trip to Tasmania, here it is. Beaker Street Festival is returning from Tuesday, August 12 to Tuesday, August 19 and it's bringing a full week of death, pleasure, humanity and connection to Hobart and beyond. Don't be fooled, this isn't your average science festival. Now in its ninth year, Beaker Street is where art meets ideas and curious minds come together to explore what it means to live well, die better and stay curious along the way. There's over 70 events to look forward to across the week, including museum takeovers, field trips, speakeasy-style science salons, plunge pools, live music, pub nights, expert talks and experimentation. [caption id="attachment_1007080" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Oi Studio[/caption] The festival's main stage at Hobart City Hall is returning this year with a jam-packed schedule of headline talks, performances and debates. It's the kind of festival that makes you feel like a local, with something new and weird to discover around every corner. "We want to remind people that science isn't just learning facts – it's about feeling, experiencing, and connecting. It invites us to explore big ideas, expand our perspective, and share moments that bring people together," says Festival Founder and Creative Director Dr Margo Adler. [caption id="attachment_1007079" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Rosie Hastie[/caption] So whether you're a science nerd, a live music fan or just someone who wants a reason to visit Tassie this winter, this festival is for you. Beaker Street Festival runs from Tuesday, August 12 to Tuesday, August 19 across Hobart and regional Lutruwita/Tasmania. See a full festival guide and book your tickets now on the Beaker Street Festival website. By Jacque Kennedy
IconPark is not your average pop-up restaurant. The first online platform to focus on hospitality concepts, it has transformed how we view crowdfunding and has pole-vaulted the business to the forefront of the industry. With the rock star season two winners Rupert and Ruby wrapping up and scouting for season three talent far underway, co-founders Paul Schell and Dean McEvoy have hit their 2014 New Year’s resolution. Their success has inspired the Future of Funding panel discussion. The joint effort with General Assembly will bring together established entrepreneurs and industry newbies for a bit of wisdom-sharing and a beer. McEvoy will act as mediator while Schell shares the stage with Society One CEO/co-founder Matt Symons, Equitise co-founder Chris Gilbert and Reinventure Group co-founder/managing director Simon Cant. A low-key but potent event, this is a must-attend for all you aspiring tycoons out there.
After a tumultuous start to the year, the Art Gallery of NSW is back. At the moment, you can catch a heap of free exhibitions, including the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Some Mysterious Process: 50 Years of Collecting International Art and Shadow Catchers. Now, the major cultural institution is looking to the future, announcing its huge lineup of spring/summer exhibitions — including the much-anticipated Archibald Prize. It would seem Sydney's arts scene is getting back to normal (with restrictions, of course). The prestigious portrait prize was meant to kick off last month, along with the Wynne and Sulman, which recognise the best landscape painting of Australian scenery, or figure sculpture and the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project, respectively. But, due to growing COVID-19 concerns, the exhibitions were postponed by the gallery back in March, with hopes to show later in the year. Yesterday, Tuesday, June 23, AGNSW revealed new dates, which will now run from September 26 right through January 10, 2021. So, you'll have plenty of time to check it out. Also coming to grace the gallery's walls is a landmark retrospective of celebrated impressionist landscape painter Arthur Streeton, which will run from November 7, 2020–February 14, 2021. A member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionism, Streeton produced works that were (and still are) quintessentially Aussie — from sun-drenched pastoral landscapes to the waters of Sydney Harbour. He also received the Wynne Prize in 1928. At the AGNSW, Streeton will feature more than 150 works, some of which have not exhibited for over a century, and will include a selection of works from the artist's time in Egypt, England, Italy and WWI France, too. "We're extremely excited to delve into the life and work of one of our most influential Australian painters, Arthur Streeton, who defined a unique image of this country," AGNSW Director Michael Brand said in a statement. "Streeton's brilliant evocations of light, land and sea are among the most enduring paintings for many Australians." [caption id="attachment_773984" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arthur Streeton, 'Cremorne Pastoral', 1895, Art Gallery of New South Wales via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] That's not all that you'll be able to catch over the warmer months, either. Kicking off next month is a solo exhibit of major works by Lebanon-born Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi, which will run till sometime next year. Titled A Promise: Khaled Sabsabi, it'll feature the artist's large-scale immersive works and more intimate paintings. From October, there'll be a collection of drawings by eight contemporary Aussie artists, dubbed Real Worlds: Dobell Australian Drawing Biennale 2020, as well as Joy: an Indigenous art exhibition, featuring objects and short films by artists from across the Central Desert, including Judith Inkamala, Marlene Rubuntja and Sally Mulda. Both exhibitions will be free and kick off on Saturday, October 24, with closing dates yet to be announced. Then, from Saturday November 14, the gallery will house a provocative and humorous retrospective of Australian artist Pat Larter's work over the past 30 years, which challenges conventions of the male gaze and stereotypes of female sexuality. Unfortunately, the scheduled 2020 Sydney International Art Series exhibitions, Matisse: Life & Spirit, Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris and Matisse Alive have been postponed indefinitely. As have exhibitions Brack, Margel Hinder, Classicism and The Purple House. For more information on the Art Gallery of NSW's current and upcoming exhibitions, head to the website. Ticket information for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2020 will be available here from Saturday, August 1. Ticket information for Streeton is yet to be announced — we'll be sure to keep you updated. Top image: Art Gallery of NSW
If you've seen a man in the moon, the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich or a monkey in the callus of a tree, do you know there's a word for what you've been experiencing? It's 'pareidolia', which the Collins Dictionary defines as "the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist". In his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote that the phenomenon inspired great art: "If you look at any walls spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones ... you will be able to see an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well-conceived forms." Google is now taking pareidolia to a whole new level. Combining facial recognition software and Google Maps, Google Faces can identify human features on the Earth's surface. Given that the aforementioned cheese sandwich sold for $US28,000, we can only begin to imagine what the discovery of Jesus's visage in someone's backyard might do for property values. Google Faces is the brainchild of Onformative, 'a studio for regenerative design', based in Berlin. They have created an algorithm that, in combination with Facetracker, scans the satellite images provided by Google Maps, honing in on geographical elements that resemble an eye, nose, mouth or forehead. So far, the programme has circumnavigated the world twice, and it'll continue its journey over the next few months, gradually zooming in on the Earth to access new perspectives. Via io9.
Edible wallpaper, rivers of chocolate, gigantic jelly babies. Willy Wonka’s insane creations are no longer confined to the pages of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (or various creepy movie versions), the team at Ananas are letting you gorge on Wonka inventions in Sydney. The Rocks’ hardcore brunch enthusiasts Ananas Bar & Brasserie are hosting Willy Wonka’s Champagne Brunch, an undoubtedly Instagrammable wonderland of edible treats on Sunday, August 23. Whether you'll be surrounded by Oompa Loompas or have to keep Violet Beauregard away from the Extra remains to be seen. Fuelled by sparkling glasses of bubbly, you’ll be feasting away on Ananas’ Wonka-inspired delights, including a recreation of the chocolate river that sucked up Augustus Gloop (probably on a smaller scale). There’ll be desserts like golden macaroons, giant jelly babies, salted caramel lollipops, giant chocolate eggs, rainbow candy sweets, and a liquid nitrogen ice cream station. Plus, you can lick your way to glory with that edible wallpaper. But it’s not all sugary goodness at this Sunday brunch. There’ll be a seafood grazing station with fresh crab, oysters and house-smoked salmon, house-made charcuterie, parfaits, rillettes, terrines and ballotines. Then things get rich — there’s going to be a carvery station serving roasted pork belly with caramelised apples and crackling, roasted beef rib and Yorkshire puddings. Willy Wonka’s Champagne Brunch is happening at Ananas Bar & Brasserie on Sunday, August 23 from 11am-5pm. Tickets are $69 per person, with optional two-hour Champagne package $55 Bookings are essential over here.
It's been a long time between drinks for Sydney dance floors and, if you regularly parked yourself in front of the DJ in your pre-COVID-19 life, you might be on the hunt for a dance-filled night now that restrictions have been rolled back. The Lansdowne has you covered with its weekly indie dance nights courtesy of party collective All My Friends. In recent years, All My Friends has hosted club nights across Sydney. Most recently, it had found its home at The Bank's upstairs space Waywards for weekly nights — pre-pandemic, that is. Now, the club night has now found a new berth at The Lansdowne. To kick things off, it returns this weekend for eight hours of good music and even better dance moves. Expect to hear tunes from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Tame Impala, Robyn, Glass Animals, Phoenix and Rufus. Obviously, that list goes on. The dance floor will be open and tunes will be blaring from 9pm–5am on Saturday, April 3 — and entry is free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J294A-R1Cjk
In 2013, 300 people danced to Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' in a field — and in 2022, the idea is back and bigger than ever. Yes, The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever is happening in Sydney again from 12pm on Saturday, July 30. Yes, everyone should be dressed as Kate Bush, complete with a red dress, red stockings and black belt (men, that means you as well). On the day, a clowder (that's the collective noun for Kate Bushes, just FYI) will descend upon St Peters and copy Bush's swaying, kicky dance in unison just for the pure joy of it. Support for this weird and wonderful outing has been widespread, and Kate Bush fans from around the world have been inspired to create events in their home cities. So get your gear together (dressmakers are usually flooded with orders for the day) and ready yourself to roll and fall in green, out on the wily, windy moors of Sydney Park. If you need an incentive — other than the event itself, of course — it's now 44 years since the song was first released. Also, this year's celebration of all things Kate Bush is taking place on the British musician's birthday. And, if you've watched the first seven episodes of Stranger Things' fourth season, you're probably now a Kate Bush obsessive if you weren't already before. Running up that hill beforehand (whichever hill you like) isn't compulsory, but it feels fitting. And yes, when it comes to Kate Bush worship, she sang it best herself : don't give up.
The NSW Government is urging everyone who visited or worked at the Crossroads Hotel between Friday, July 3 and Friday, July 10, to immediately self-isolate for 14 days and get tested, even if they have no systems. The public health alert comes as nine positive COVID-19 cases have been directly linked to the Casula pub in Sydney's southwest, but none of those are believed to be the source of infection. Those who have tested positive so far include an employee of the pub, a woman who dined at the pub on July 3 and a Blue Mountains man — who also dined at the pub on July 3 — whose three household contacts have also been confirmed COVID-19 positive. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said in a statement: "While investigations are continuing, it is vital people get tested so we can try and establish the source of infection at the hotel. I encourage people to access a number of clinics at local hospitals at Campbelltown, Fairfield and Liverpool so people are tested as quickly as possible." A pop-up testing clinic has also been set up at the Crossroads Hotel. https://www.facebook.com/NewSouthWalesHealth/posts/1342931869239484?__tn__=K-R Dr Chant said that those who visited the pub between July 3–10 must self-isolate for 14 days since they were last at the pub, get tested, get retested if any respiratory symptoms appear and stay in isolation for 14 days even if they receive a negative test. It can take up to 14 days from exposure to the virus for symptoms to first appear, which is why the 14 days of self-isolation are recommended. NSW has also closed its border with Victoria — for the first time in 100 years — and discouraged Sydneysiders from visiting towns near the border as Victoria's positive cases numbers continue to spike. In the 24 hours leading up to 8pm on Sunday, July 12, NSW recorded five new cases of COVID-19, with two of those returned travellers in hotel quarantine and three the aforementioned close contacts of the Blue Mountains man who visited the Crossroads Hotel. For more information about the status of COVID–19 in NSW and to find your closest testing sites, head to the NSW Health website.
Put down your So Fresh CD. Crack open your teenage piggy bank. Keep practising your Janet Jackson shimmy. Because a full-blown R&B frenzy is set to sweep the nation this November as live party tour RNB Fridays returns for five mammoth shows. Descending on Giants Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday, November 16 (no, not a Friday), the event has managed to pull a pretty serious lineup of international music legends straight from the 90s and early 2000s. Last year, the event saw tens of thousands of people snap up tickets to see Usher, Salt-N-Pepa and T-Pain. Heading the bill this time around is none other than singing, songwriting, dancing royalty Janet Jackson, in what will be the 30th anniversary of her award-winning album Rhythm Nation. Expect to hear bangers such as 'That's The Way Love Goes' and 'Got 'Til It's Gone'. She'll be joined by Brandy, who will be belting out 90s and 00s hits such as 'Never Say Never', 'Wanna Be Down' and, of course, 'The Boy Is Mine'. Then there's Grammy Award-winning group The Black Eyed Peas, 'In da Club' rapper 50 Cent, plus Jason Derulo, Keri Hilson, J-Kwon, Fatman Scoop and Sisqo — who will be performing his 90s smash hit 'Thong Song'. All of them. Together. In one show. RNB FRIDAYS 2019 LINEUP Janet Jackson Brandy The Black Eyes Peas 50 Cent Jason Derulo Keri Hilson Sisqo J-Kwon Hosted by Fatman Scoop Image: Mushroom Creative House.
UK aerial theatre company Ockham's Razor will be strutting their heart-stopping stuff at this year’s Sydney Festival. Described as “daring yet refined acrobatics”, they present a triple bill of three distinct theatrical pieces exploring themes of reliance, isolation and interconnectivity. The first piece, Arc, fuses circus and storytelling to investigate the complexities of human relationships, with performers interacting on a life raft structure suspended in mid-air. In Memento Mori, audiences are treated to a staggeringly agile pas de deux (mid-air, naturally) and in Every Action, four strangers affect each other on an elevated set of scales. Ockham's Razor formed in 2004 as the brainchild of Alex Harvey, Charlotte Mooney and Tina Koch — three friends who met whilst training at Bristol's Circomedia. They've gained a reputation for being a young, risk-taking, highly expressive company. This is bound to be an exciting show for anyone interested in the future of physical theatre and circus.
Fans of Australian mysteries, page-to-screen crime tales, Eric Bana (Dirty John) getting sleuthing and all things Aaron Falk, you'll have to wait a bit longer for your most-anticipated Aussie film of 2023. With the SAG-AFTRA strike currently in effect, and Bana a member of the union, Australian and New Zealand distributor Roadshow Films — in consultation with the filmmakers — has decided to push back The Dry sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2 from its planned August release. "It is with some regret, but a large amount of conviction, that we have decided to postpone the release of Force of Nature: The Dry 2. I'm incredibly proud of this much-anticipated Australian film and want to be able to do it justice by promoting it thoroughly," said Bana in a statement. "Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, of which I am a longstanding member, it is not possible to do that at this time. Just as we did with The Dry, our plan is to be face to face with the cinemagoing public through event screenings, Q&As and press appearances at the time of release. I stand in support of the changes that SAG-AFTRA are fighting for on behalf of all working actors. I apologise for any inconvenience it causes anyone who has pre purchased tickets to our already soldout Q&A sessions. Thanks for your understanding. See you at a cinema soon," Bana continued. When the Aussie star stepped into Falk's shoes in The Dry, more movies were always bound to follow. On the screen, the film became a massive Australian box-office hit in 2021 thanks to its twisty mystery, determined detective, stunning scenery and spectacular cast. It was capitalising, of course, on the story's proven success on the page. And, to the delight of movie producers and audiences, the beloved novel by author Jane Harper was just Falk's first appearance. Accordingly, throw that formula together again and you now have Force of Nature: The Dry 2, the big-screen sequel that no longer has a release date — with exactly when it'll hit cinemas now yet to be confirmed. This follow-up sees the core duo of Bana and writer/director Robert Connolly (Blueback) return, with the latter again investigating a case. This time, as both the movie's initial teaser and full trailer explore, Falk is looking into the disappearance of a hiker from a corporate retreat attended by five women. Alongside fellow federal agent Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie, Ruby's Choice), Falk heads deep into Victoria's mountain ranges to try to find the missing traveller — who also happens to be a whistle-blowing informant — alive. Also featuring in Force of Nature, which has a powerhouse list of Aussie talent just like its predecessor: Anna Torv (The Last of Us) as missing hiker Alice Russell, plus Deborra-Lee Furness (Jindabyne), Robin McLeavy (Homeland), Sisi Stringer (Mortal Kombat) and Lucy Ansell (Utopia). Richard Roxburgh (Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe), Tony Briggs (Preppers) and Kenneth Radley (The Power of the Dog) pop up, too, while Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor (Heartbreak High) is back in the role of Erik Falk. Reteaming not just after The Dry, but also fellow 2023 release Blueback, Connolly and Bana make quite the pair when it comes to Aussie crime cinema — with Connolly the producer of one of the best local crime movies ever made, aka 1998's unnerving The Boys, and Bana famously the star of the similarly excellent Chopper. It's likely that this won't be the last big movie that's delayed due to the current actors' strike, with Hollywood talents fighting against diminishing residual payments for performers, and to establish firm rules about the future use of artificial intelligence in the industry. When they took action in mid-July, SAG-AFTRA's members joined their counterparts in the Writers Guild of America, who've been striking since May. Check out the full trailer for Force of Nature: The Dry 2 below: Force of Nature: The Dry 2 doesn't currently have a release date for Australian and New Zealand cinemas — we'll update you when one is announced. Read our full review of The Dry. Images: Narelle Portanier.
It’s always exciting when two people you love get together, like Seth and Summer on The OC or you and Johnny Depp in nightly dreams. But no pairing has excited us more than Morgan McGlone of Belle’s Hot Chicken and Monty Koludrovic of Icebergs Dining Room and Bar who are finally giving in to all that crazy culinary tension and bringing us a massive pop-up party at Harpoon Harry this long weekend. Morgan and Monty (aw so cute) are concocting a bespoke menu of wings, hotdogs and moonshine shakes for the shindig. You read that correctly, moonshine milkshakes. Morgan is cooking up a spin on Belle’s famous hot chicken with a Barbacoa flavour. And Monty has invented what may possibly be the most perfect hotdog in existence: handmade spiced pork and beef frank, wrapped in a soft bun with mustard, pickles and chilli. And while we’re a wee bit sceptical about the moonshine milkshakes (made with Morgan’s homebrew moonshine and fior de latte gelato), love does make people do crazy things. Of course, we'll give it a try. This isn’t the first time Belle’s Hot Chicken has taken over Harpoon Harry’s either. They did a pop-up several months ago and are back already because apparently Sydney can’t get enough of what Belle’s got. Happily for us, they’re not into monogamy and are working with a horde of hospitality legends to provide bevs and tunes. The boys at Young Henry’s are bringing tinnies, DRNKS are cracking open their vino and Kali from Picnic Social will be soundtracking the evening. Where else would you be this long weekend than at a moonshine shake shindig? Morgan and Monty’s Wings + Dogs + Moonshine Shakes pop-up is happening Sunday, October 4 from 5pm. Find ‘em at Harpoon Harry, 40-44 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills.
Aussies love a good crumble and Newtonians are lucky enough to get a dessert bar dedicated to the stuff. Crumble Top just opened along King Street as the newest concept in the Sydney dessert scene. The cafe runs on the 'create your own' principle and, unlike the Sara Lee version, your crumble is made fresh, right in front of your eyes. Now that's crumble devotion. Owner Luke Stack is the man bringing this glorious treat your way. He has worked in restaurants overseas for years and recently returned to Australia with a passion for crumbles. "I love making crumbles, they're very satisfying and I love the idea that people could design their own creations," he says. It's a simple gig — pick your crumble filling, topping, sauce and ice cream. The seasonal menu is anything but standard with crumble toppings of lemon myrtle and coconut/ginger, sauces of lemon curd and orange/nutmeg and ice creams including lavender and cardamom. They've also got vegan options across the board, making this joint in good company with its Newtown neighbours like Gigi, Bliss and Chips and Blue Gelato. "We didn't want to make a regular menu, we wanted different, spiced choices so each creation has a completely unique flavour," says Stacks. If you're looking for tips on where to start, take one from the pro — Stack's personal favourite is granny smith apples and peanut butter crumble with a vanilla sauce and lemon curd ice cream. This is some mouthwatering goodness we can't wait to get in our bellies. Crumble Top is located at 125 King Street, Newtown. Open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 9pm and Friday through Sunday from noon. Image: Photopin
A seemingly unique event in the city of Sydney Found In Translation is a night of border poetry; poetry performed in any language at all with an accompanying translation and a question and answer section. Featuring such artists as Ariel Riveros, Anita Shirley — who will reader The Black Messengers from Cesar Vallejo’s I Am Going To Speak Of Hope — and Paul Giles, the evening encourages performers to explore different translation formats, and throw aside restriction. The question and answer section with the panel will be on translation, proximities, betrayals, joys and exasperations. An evening of bilingual poetry for the multilingual, the codeswitchers and codemixers, with space for articulating evolving and devolving hybrid forms, this will be the first of an ongoing monthly series. Image: French Dictionary by Mauro Cateb.
Since 2010, Kinema has been bringing cinematic relief to film-lovers bored by blockbusters, fed up with formulas and rubbed the wrong way by rom-coms. For a bite-sized membership fee of just $10 a month (or $50 for 12 months), the film society provides an unimaginably eclectic program of films, screened in their cosy cinema at AV UNION, 365 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt. So, many a movie-goer has been saddened by the news that Kinema will close its doors at the end of the month. Liam O'Donoghue, one of three directors, told Broadsheet that the closure is due to a lack of time and an interest in pursuing other projects. By way of farewell, the directors decided to shape their final programme according to a members' wish list. There'll be screenings of 1960s classics The Battle of Algiers and Who Are You, Polly Magoo?, 1965 Japanese comedy Tampopo, American indie film Southlander (2001), Canadian feature documentary Nollywood Babylon (2008) and, to wrap up proceedings on October 31, a mystery selection.
Bringing the outdoors in, greening up tiny city apartments, eating farm-fresh food, growing your own edible morsels: noble aims, all of them, but they're not always easy to achieve. A lack of room and a need for ongoing effort can hinder even the best laid inside gardening plans; however O Garden aims to make cultivating your own indoor veggie garden as simple as buying a new — and eye-catching — piece of furniture. Designed and manufactured in Canada, O Garden is a round, rotating cylinder specially designed for growing organic goodies in small spaces, and with as little need for human intervention as possible. Seeds are planted in soil placed on top of coconut matting, then automatically fed with organic liquid fertiliser while the wheel slowly spins around a central light source. All you need to do is water them once a week, then wait 30 to 40 days until harvesting time. Overall, the O Garden can produce around 100 plants in about half a square metre of space, making it quite the compact indoor greenhouse. As for just what you can grow within its circular confines, expect to munch on herbs like basil, rosemary, mint and parsley; greens such as spinach, lettuce and chives; and even celery, cherry tomatoes and strawberries. Alas, homegrown fresh food fans, the O Garden doesn't come cheap — though its US$1397 price tag doesn't factor in what you'll save if you put it to good veggie-growing use. At present, it only currently ships to the US and Europe, but here's hoping that changes soon. Via inhabitat.
After five wildly successful summers of cocktail jugs, house music and deckchair lounging, The Island Bar is packing up shop on Cockatoo Island. Set to serve its last drink on February 29, Marco Faraone and Mike Edkins's award-winning bar will be relocating to a new Sydney venue with all the trimmings — astroturf, shipping containers, pizza ovens and all. Faraone and Edkins have not renewed their lease with Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, after "difficulties coming to an agreement" according to the pair. Instead, they're calling it quits on the iconic Sydney Harbour location. "When we opened The Island Bar, we were the first to bring the shipping container pop up concept to Sydney and make it a reality," says Edkins. "Now, after five years of establishing the bar as one of the must-go destinations in Sydney for great drinks, food and good times right on the harbour, it’s time for something new." Accessible only by boat on Cockatoo Island, The Island Bar has seen a whopping 350,000 visitors since launching in December 2010 — making it the longest-running Sydney pop-up of its kind to date. The Island Bar team will be announcing the venue's new location in the coming weeks, and it'll be installed and up and running by next summer. Head out to Cockatoo Island before the end of February to drink in one of Sydney's most picturesque pop-ups while you can. Images: The Island Bar.
Over the past few years, Gelatissimo has whipped up a number of creative flavours, including frosé sorbet, ginger beer gelato, Weet-Bix and fairy bread varieties, hot cross bun gelato and even gelato for dogs. For its latest offering, the Australian dessert chain is taking inspiration from an extremely popular drink: bubble tea. Yes, bubble tea is now a thing you can eat, not just drink, thanks to Gelatissimo. Launching this Friday, July 24, the brown sugar bubble milk tea flavour is made from a combination of organic assam tea and black tea, which are infused in creamy gelato and mixed with a swirl of brown sugar syrup. As it wouldn't really be a bubble tea without pearls, each cup or cone comes topped with chewy brown sugar tapioca pearls. If you order a takeaway tub, pearls come packed separately. Prefer sipping on your bubble tea rather than scooping it? Gelatissimo is also whizzing the limited-edition flavour into gelato shakes. As Victoria is in lockdown and NSW residents have been advised against non-essential travel, Gelatissimo is bringing the gelato to you and offering delivery through UberEats, DoorDash and Deliveroo. Gelatissimo's brown sugar bubble milk gelato flavour is available from all 43 stores nationwide for a limited time.
Aldous Harding is a name you're going to be hearing a lot about very soon. Her second album, Party – released earlier in May 2017 by legendary indie label 4AD – is full of darkly lyrical, dramatic songs, sung in Harding's extraordinarily versatile voice that can go from husky and dramatic to girlish and hopeful at the flick of a switch. Harding's sound is a is a mesmerising, intoxicating mix of Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith, even an occasional flicker of Joanna Newsom. And given the album was recorded with PJ Harvey's longtime collaborator John Parrish, it's hard not to hear a touch of Polly Jean in there too. Image: Cat Stevens
Fan of magic? Addicted to your phone? We've got good news for you. Metaverse of Magic, a theatre show combining stagecraft and sorcery, will be coming to Sydney this November. Think of it like the magic shows of yesteryear, redefined for the digital age. And here's where it gets really fun: you're not just a spectator, you're an active participant, with your smartphone effectively transforming into a magic wand to use to interact with the show. Kicking off in Sydney, then Canberra and Brisbane, the show offers a blend of traditional magic from real pros from around the world. Using your phone, you'll join DIGI, an artificial consciousness bridging our world and the Metaverse, and embark on a quest to uncover the secrets of four masters of illusion and attempt to gain access to the mysterious Inner Realm. No pressure. Taking centre stage is YouTube and TikTok sensation Ash Magic, along with a galaxy of global stars, including Tokyo's Hara Hiroki, Australia's Charli Ashby, New Zealand's Jarred Fell, Taiwan's Horret Wu and Amsterdam's Sabine van Diemen. The show runs for two weeks only, opening on Tuesday, November 7 and running until Sunday, November 19, at Sydney Coliseum Theatre at West HQ. So get in quick, and get set for a grand magic show — but not as you know it. Just don't forget to charge your phone. Intrigued? Grab your tickets here.
During this last week of April there's been a bit of good news about Australia's battle to contain coronavirus. Queensland and NSW both announced the easing of some restrictions from this Friday, May 1, South Australia has had seven days in a row of no new cases and the ACT, as of today, has zero active cases. Also unveiled today was the Northern Territory's Roadmap to the New Normal, which includes the reopening of restaurants, bars and cafes — in just two weeks. Announced today by Chief Minister Michael Gunner, the roadmap is broken into three parts. From midday tomorrow, May 1, some "simple and safe" outdoor activities are allowed — including weddings and funerals, outdoor sports where physical distancing can be maintained (so tennis is OK, but not basketball) and fishing, boating and sailing with other people — and public swimming pools, water parks, playgrounds and campgrounds (outside biosecurity areas) can open. Stage two, set to start from midday on Friday, May 15, allows "safer" indoor activities for "less than two hours". Places of worship, public libraries, gyms, beauty therapy salons (for non-facial services), shopping centre food courts and restaurants, cafes and bars can all have customers for short bursts. So, you can go and have a couple of pints at a bar or a bowl of pasta and a wine, but not sit down for an eight-course degustation. The venues wanting to reopen as part of this second round of eased restrictions must submit a "simple COVID-19 safety plan checklist" to prove they're operating within physical distancing and hygiene guidelines, but these do not need to be approved. At present, the Chief Minister has not outlined exactly what these physical distancing guidelines are, but the checklist will be made public on May 5. [caption id="attachment_714483" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sydney's Cantina OK is currently closed. Image by Kimberley Low.[/caption] If the guidelines include the Federal Government's previous one person-per-four-square-metre limit, it's possible it won't be viable for all hospitality venues to reopen. When this restriction was first introduced back in March 20, many hospitality spots — including tiny Sydney mezcal bar Cantina OK — chose to close. Some closed even earlier, when the government introduced a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Part three of the NT government's plan is set to be rolled out on June 5, and includes the removal of the two-hour limit and the commencement of more indoor and outdoor activities, such as going to a football game and the opening of cinemas, theatres, concert halls, nightclubs and entertainment venues (in an "approved configuration"). The territory's 14-day forced quarantine rules for all non-essential interstate travellers does not have an end date as part of the plan — so, no, don't expect to go on a holiday to the Top End anytime soon. The NT has had significantly less cases compared to other states and territories, with a total of 27 — as of 6am on April 30 — compared with 1034 in Queensland, 1354 in Victoria and 3016 in New South Wales. But the two-month plan could be an example of what the road out might look like for the rest of the country, albeit a little later on. You can find out more about the Northern Territory's Roadmap to the New Normal here.
When 2020 came to an end and 2021 began, it did so with fluctuating restrictions in the Greater Sydney area in response to recent COVID-19 outbreaks, including in the northern beaches. But, before January wraps up, those rules will start easing — with the first relaxed changes coming into effect from 12.01am on Friday, January 29. Premier Gladys Berejiklian made the announcement today, Wednesday, January 27, after pre-empting last week that changes were likely to come into effect this week of case numbers remained low. The NSW Government didn't want to loosen the restrictions before January 26, however, because it didn't want the public holiday to become a super-seeding event. Come Friday, households will be allowed to welcome 30 visitors (including children). For outdoor gatherings — in public, such as picnics and barbecues — the new limit is 50 people. Weddings and funerals will be allowed to have 300 attendees, too, as long as they comply with the one person per four-square-metre rule. That said, only 20 people can dance at weddings, so that rule isn't easing yet. For venues in the the state — which includes hospitality venues — the one person per four-square-metre rule is still in effect as well. But, in a new change, the cap of 300 people is being scrapped. Also sticking around: wearing masks, but they'll only be mandatory on public transport, in health settings, in gaming rooms, for front-of-house hospitality workers, for folks going to a place of worship, and for anyone attending a beauty or hairdressing salon. They won't be compulsory for retail workers or for anyone going shopping — including at supermarkets — but they remain recommended if you're unable to socially distance. The changes announced today don't completely roll the restrictions back to the same rules that were in effect before the Avalon cluster; however, if there is no further community transmission related to the recent outbreak in Sydney's southwest, more rules will be relaxed in a fortnight. That's when venues are likely to be able to go back to the one person per two-square-metre rule, and weddings and funerals should be able to as well. The announcement comes as NSW recorded no new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, January 27 — a pattern that has remained for the past ten days. That said, the most recent hours come after 9723 tests, which both Premier Berejiklian and NSW Health notes is low. As always, NSW residents are asked to continue to get tested immediately if you experience even the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Start the year strong and strap yourself in for a night of powerhouse vocals. On Monday, January 18, the ARIA Award-winning Casey Donovan will take to the stage at City Recital Hall for a one-off show in association with Sydney Festival. She'll be treating punters to a lineup of absolute hits, backed by her five-piece band and directed by composer Daniel Edmonds. In her trademark style, Donovan is set to steer audiences on a musical journey woven with stories, taking on the tunes of everyone from Billy Joel and Eva Cassidy to Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Adele. The acclaimed artist was the winner of Australian Idol at the age of just 16 and has been cementing her status in the Australian music scene ever since, most recently flexing her theatrical chops in the role of Chicago's Matron Mama Morton. As Donovan knows her way around a power ballad, you can bank on this being one super-charged performance. If life feels like it's been lacking on the live music front of late, here's your chance to tap your toes along to some tunes. [caption id="attachment_764363" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Keith Saunders[/caption] For tickets, head here.
In celebration of its grand opening, Taiwanese eatery SooZee23 has sorted out your lunch. On Friday, February 23, head to Westfield Sydney from 11am–2pm and you'll score yourself a piping hot bowl of the restaurant's signature braised beef noodle soup — for free. The shop is brought to you by the team behind Chatime and is inspired by the popular Duan Chun Zhen beef noodle restaurant in Taiwan. It's claiming to have the 'most authentic' Taiwanese noodle soup in town, using a recipe passed down through three generations and originating on the streets of Taiwan in 1948. As the name suggests, the recipe uses 23 herbs and spices in its stock, which takes eight hours to make. The broth is spooned over thin handmade noodles, then topped with succulent braised beef, bok choy and spring onions. Diners can select the classic version or spice it up with copious amounts of chilli. Other menu items include chicken karaage, gyoza and spicy beef fried rice, but these aren't included in the freebie. The self-proclaimed authenticity is certainly a bold move, but then again the recipe does sound legit. Lucky for you, there's no limit to the number of bowls they're give away during that time frame, so head on in and judge for yourself. SooZee23 is now open at Level 5, Westfield Sydney. Head along to the grand opening event on Friday, February 23 between 11am and 2pm for a free bowl of its signature braised beef noodle soup.
Fans of all things vintage will probably want to start saving up their pennies for March 29, when Paddington markets will be transformed into a vintage playground for a day. Over 150 vendors will be tempting market browsers with vintage accessories, clothing, bric-a-brac and more. Local favourites Reuze Vintage will be selling their carefully selected goods and Red Threads boutique will be returning with their recycled clothing and collectibles sourced from all over Australia. You’ll find everything from vintage Chanel shoes to telescopes to diver’s helmets (you never know when they'll come in handy) to Aztec rugs. It’s the kind of market you could spend hours perusing. We recommend taking regular breaks for refreshment (especially if you’re dragging around an unwilling friend who doesn’t quite share your passion for vintage). You’ll be able to take respite at the usual food stalls and there’ll be live music too. Tip: Serious vintage shoppers know the best stuff goes first, so get there at 10am sharp.
Artists Gunter Christmann, Hossein Ghaemi, Clare Milledge and Oscar Perry star in Crusted Heat, the new group exhibition opening at The Commercial on July 1. The show's title is a nod to the featured rare 'sprankle' painting by Christmann from 1970 — a piece in which acrylic paint was "dropped like rain from nearly six feet out in space" onto an unstretched canvas on the floor, the colourful result seriously startling in its ability to convey the sensation of heat. In contrast to this gravity-dependent technique, in her hinterglasmalerei paintings Clare Milledge presses oil paint with a brush onto a surface of luscious clear glass that will be turned away from the viewer, in a way, working backwards. The smeared, dense greys of Oscar Perry's An impresario and a small turtle gamble in the moonlight/ does sitting count as waiting? will intrigue, and Hossein Ghaemi has two drawing/paintings on board. Crusted Heat actually marks the first time in a while that Ghaemi has worked outside the medium of performance — curiosity is piqued. Image: Clare Milledge, 'Rice Ambient Liquid Lens Soap' (2016).
The latest pop up venture from chef Jared Ingersoll and self-professed "wine pimp" Jason Hoy sounds like an excellent addition to the summer culinary scene. Bottle and Beast opened in late January and will be filling the bellies of Pyrmont until March 31, serving up a different beast each night along with a selection of Rieslings from around the world. Presenting food that is ethically sourced (think fresh, foraged, seasonal and sustainable), Ingersoll is roasting everything from chicken to goat to pig over coals and thinking up delicious sides to accompany them. Recently, he served up pork seasoned with fennel seeds, salt and lemon accompanied by onions in buttermilk jam. Jason Hoy serves as a kind of one-grape sommelier, with his aim being to "bring Riesling back to the masses". Prices are pretty reasonable. The prix fixe lunch menu is $35 and in the evenings $55 will get you the 'Feast of the Beast' menu of starters, the daily meat, sides and dessert. Check out the menus from the past couple of weeks at the pop up's Facebook page to get an idea of what you're in for. You can make a reservation by calling 0449 107 036. Opening Hours: Mon & Thurs 5.30pm – 11.30pm, Fri – Sat 11.30am – 3pm & 5.30pm – 11.30pm, Sun 10am – 5pm
Nine contemporary artists come together for Contemporary Female Photo Artists, an exhibition exploring aspects of time and space taking over the main gallery at Artereal from August 2–24. From the emerging to the well-established, each artist displayed uses experimental and cutting-edge photo based practices to overthrow traditional expectations of the medium and challenge our conventional understandings of what photography's all about. You can expect dreamy, nostalgic magic from Anna Carey (her exhibition earlier in the year, In Search of Rainbows, was a total delight), poignant images of the aftermath of a kid's birthday party from Anna MacDonald, Jess MacNeil's directing painting on 16mm film, 'no-camera' burnt images by Zan Wimberley, plus multi-layered works from Rebecca Beardmore that combine printmaking with photography to interrogate the act of looking itself. You'll also see work from Shoufay Derz, Emily Sandrussi, Simone Douglas and Svetlana Bailey. Fans of contemporary photography should definitely put this one in the diary. In caps. Image: Jess MacNeil, Disruptive Continuum (video still), 2013–2017.
If you've so far not seen or heard Seen & Heard, make up for it in 2014, when the festival returns for a fifth outing. Celebrating the exciting work being done by women in film across directing, writing and producing, this festival-with-a-message believes that "films made by women are not just for women". Across three Thursday nights at Marrickville's ever-cosy Red Rattler, you can check out shorts and documentaries ranging from the serious to the downright silly, with themes including disability, race relations, sex and self-discovery. Alex Kelly's documentary Queen of the Desert looks like a must-see, following a truly unique youth worker called Starlady as she journeys to a remote Indigenous community in Central Australia. Leslie Tai's Grave Goods also looks interesting — a visual imagining of the life lived by objects left behind by her departed grandmother. There's also Jennifer Lee's documentary Feminist: Stories from Women's Liberation, winner of Best of the Fest at the Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival. Seen & Heard is now in its fifth year and should be a good night for anyone interested in women's cinema, or cinema in general for that matter. It's $15 for one evening and $35 gets you a season pass to all three nights. A festival like this is still vital in the film industry, where only one female director has ever won an Oscar for Best Direction or even a Palme d'Or. And as Cate Blanchett put it in her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine, the industry boasts plenty of people "who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the centre are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them, and in fact, they earn money." Want more new shorts and features from female filmmakers? Check out the World of Women (WOW) Film Festival based at the Dendy Circular Quay. https://youtube.com/watch?v=d04_8xPiQFI
Lovers of wine, food, music and art should check out Rootstock Festival, a two-day extravaganza of wine tasting, coffee brewing, live music and culinary creation soon to arrive at Carriageworks. For a glorious 48 hours you can make your own cheese with Kristen Allan, take a beer-brewing lesson from Young Henrys or, if it appeals, listen to a special talk entitled 'The Semantics of Australian Wine and the rite of Communal Laughter'. If that gets too heavy, you can always wander off to sample some of the 200 wines on offer. Nightbirds might enjoy the two foodie festivals set up for Saturday and Sunday evening. An impressive lineup of chefs, including Kylie Kwong (Billy Kwong) and Louis Tikaram (Longrain), will be set up at stalls, cooking dishes they’ve designed to complement their favourite wines. Which will also be on offer, naturally. With DJs, live music and a sake bar thrown in for good measure, it sounds like a fine way to make merry. Ticket prices range from just $15 for a coffee-brewing class up to a $110 for a package that gets you into the wine festival and two masterclasses. Tight budget? Entry to the sustainable produce market on Sunday from 10am-4pm is free — although you may be tempted to buy an organic loaf or two.
Every year, runners from all over Victoria limber up for the Bendigo Bank Fun Run, a fundraiser for Bendigo Hospital. The event is split into a five-kilometre walk or run, or a ten-kilometre, 15-kilometre or half-marathon run. So, whether you're a pro who barely breaks a sweat or you can't stand running and would prefer to stroll at a leisurely pace, there's an event for you. There will also be dedicated colour stations positioned along the track to add a little more excitement to the festivities. All you have to do is register online — as either an individual or team — and then start training. All entrants who make it across the finish line will score a medallion and a free brekkie loaded with healthy goodness courtesy of The Spotless.
